Rudy Gay dominated his former team, dropping in 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting before going down with concussion-like symptoms. Ray McCallum chipped in 12 and Derrick Williams added 10, becoming only the second and third Kings players to finish in double figures.

Join James Hamand Rui Thomas for the Road Reaction Postgame Show on Google+ after the game. The show can be watched on the video player embedded below. You can also join the discussion of tonight’s game by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.

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What to watch

1. Turnover trouble

When it comes to the Kings and forfeited possessions, their generosity is admirable. In three games versus the Grizzlies this season, Sacramento has averaged 17.3 assists and 19 turnovers. Such carelessness won’t cut it with a Memphis team striving for easy points in transition.

2. Cashing in freebies

The Kings and Grizzlies are far from soft, and referees let them know. In the season series, both clubs have drawn over 28 free throw attempts per game. Sacramento has converted 75.6 percent of those tries, which leaves room for improvement.

3. Gay vs. Randolph

Five games in, the Rudy Gay power forward experiment has been largely a success. Tonight he will match up with Zach Randolph, presenting mismatches. Gay is longer and more athletic than Randolph and the Grizzly should struggle guarding the King outside. But Randolph could have his way backing down his ex-teammate in the paint.

For a long time, something has been missing with the Sacramento Kings. Talent is one issue, but from the time Rick Adelman walked out the door until the day George Karl walked in, the Kings were rudderless.

This isn’t a knock on the coaches before. Each and every one before Karl had a quality that made him head-coaching material. But Karl has a vision that he has repeatedly recreated over his 25 seasons in the NBA. That vision is something that Eric Musselman, Reggie Theus, Kenny Natt, Paul Westphal, Keith Smart, Michael Malone and Tyrone Corbin have not been able to accomplish yet in their coaching careers.

As the 2014-15 season winds down, we are starting to see trends develop with the Kings that make sense. Rotations are crisper. Passing is more fluid. The spacing on the floor is much improved.

Karl’s system is a thing of beauty. It makes decent players good, good players great and great players phenomenal. That is what a Hall of Fame-caliber coach brings to the table.

After years of searching, the Sacramento Kings are finding an identity. We saw one forming under Malone. A bare-knuckles, throwback style was effective, at least in the short term. But what Karl brings is time tested. It has substance and a long history of success.

There has probably not been a bigger offseason for Sacramento. This is the year that things have to come together. The right coach is in place, and now the right players need to be added.

We have talked plenty of times about the changes that are likely coming to the Kings’ front office, but it’s probably time to throw another name back into the conversation.

Before Vivek Ranadivé made his move to bring in Malone, Chris Mullin and Pete D’Alessandro, the fledgling owner of the Kings relied on a well-known face in Sacramento. Geoff Petrie spent the better part of two decades running the Kings’ front office and before gracefully exiting stage left, he helped Malone and Ranadivé prepare for the 2013 NBA Draft.

Petrie isn’t perfect. His track record took a beating over his final few seasons in Sacramento. Drafting Jimmer Fredette over Klay Thompson or Kawhi Leonard is a brutal decision. Taking Thomas Robinson over Damian Lillard is a franchise-haunting move. But when Petrie had real support from ownership, he was brilliant.

There are three facets to building an NBA team – free agency, trades and the draft. During his prime, Petrie mastered all three. Chris Webber was brought in from the Bullets in a trade for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe. Jason Williams, Peja Stojakovic, Hedo Turkoglu and Kevin Martin were acquired through the NBA draft and Vlade Divac was a free agent steal. That is how you have to build a winner.

Petrie had an uncanny ability to find high basketball IQ players who could both shoot and pass. He turned over every rock on the planet to find Adelman the right ingredients to make his masterpiece. Those are the types of players Karl could really use right about now.

It may sound far-fetched, but Divac might want to make a call and see what kind of interest Petrie has in rejoining the Kings. He doesn’t need a fancy president of basketball operations title and he probably wouldn’t even want to be a general manager again. But the two-time NBA Executive of the Year is a resource that should not be ignored.

Sacramento doesn’t have the time to waste while the front office sorts out its myriad of issues. Karl, 62, is under contract for another three seasons, but that will come and go quickly. A new arena is 92 games away from opening. What Divac needs is a familiar, guiding hand to help him work through the pitfalls that any new executive faces.

Petrie could find talent for the Kings. More than that, he could be Sacramento’s version of Jerry West.

After a brilliant career as a player and coach, West proved to be a genius as the general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies. He retired from the game in 2007, only to turn back up as an advisor with the Golden State Warriors in 2011. His influence on a young general manager, like Bob Meyers, has proven invaluable. At age 76, he is a voice of reason in an otherwise complicated Warriors management system.

Chris Mullin was supposed to be that influence for the Sacramento Kings. But the Hall of Fame player-turned-NBA exec has struggled with the transition. At this point, his tenure in Sacramento has been rough and the Kings’ messaging during his time has spun out of control.

Maybe there is a spot for two advisors – one for Ranadivé and one for Divac. But it’s clear that if the Kings are going to succeed, Divac needs support. He needs a familiar voice in his ear that can help him lead the franchise back from a dark place.

Divac needs someone whom he can trust to help with both evaluating talent and working over the numbers as the NBA heads towards a new era of inflated salaries. Petrie accomplished plenty under a Maloofian budget. He created winners multiple times on a mid-market payroll and maybe his most impressive trait was his ability to completely control the message coming from the Kings’ basketball operations.

Ranadivé and his group want to push the envelop on analytics and the way basketball is evaluated, and that’s fine. But bringing George Karl into that environment already shows a willingness to accept that there is a happy medium between conventional wisdom and progressive thought when it comes to structuring a basketball team. Bringing in a seasoned front-office personality with a history of success to complement what you already have makes too much sense. It’s the next logical step after bringing in Karl. Geoff Petrie makes too much sense.

]]>http://cowbellkingdom.com/sunday-musings-does-a-return-of-geoff-petrie-make-sense/feed/0Road Reaction Show: Sacramento Kings stumble in Big Easyhttp://cowbellkingdom.com/road-reaction-show-kings-stumble-in-the-big-easy/
http://cowbellkingdom.com/road-reaction-show-kings-stumble-in-the-big-easy/#commentsSat, 28 Mar 2015 03:56:24 +0000http://cowbellkingdom.com/?p=38059The streak is over. After winning four straight, the Sacramento Kings (26-46) faded late and lost to the Pelicans by a final of 102-88 tonight in New Orleans.

DeMarcus Cousins dropped in his third straight double-double, finishing with a monstrous 39 points and 20 rebounds. Rudy Gay chipped in 18, but the rest of the Kings roster took the night off.

Join James Hamand Rui Thomas for the Road Reaction Postgame Show on Google+ after the game. The show can be watched on the video player embedded below. You can also join the discussion of tonight’s game by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.

What to watch

1. Paintball

The Pelicans and Kings feast inside, ranking third and ninth in the NBA in points in the paint respectively. Both teams also give up more scores than they should down low, particularly the Pelicans, who are 29th in interior points allowed despite fielding shot blockers Anthony Davis, Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca and Jeff Withey. Starting four Rudy Gay has his hands full guarding Davis and New Orleans’ massive frontcourt.

2. Crisp offense

On Wednesday, the Kings lost one turnover for the first quarter and proceeded to spill 18 more. No one expects one turnover per quarter, but they’ll need to clean up their act facing a club that’s 24th in the league in field goal attempts and 11th in accuracy.

3. Revenge game?

In six career games versus the Kings, Tyreke Evans is averaging 20.7 points on 50 percent shooting, 6.2 assists and 5.7 rebounds. Fresh off Wednesday’s 28-point outing versus the Rockets, Evans will look to get things rolling quickly against his old employer. Fellow castoff Jimmer Fredette, who’s currently out of the Pelicans rotation, may see some spot minutes here too.

There was a reason George Karl wanted to jump in during the middle of a disastrous 2014-15 Sacramento Kings season. Despite an epic tailspin, Karl took the controls and pulled back as hard as he could. Slowly, the veteran coach has the nose of the Kings plane heading upwards towards the clouds.

Karl’s a tinkerer. He likes to mix and match until he finds a combination that gives his opposition fits. There have been few that do it better, and that is why the 62-year-old Karl always finds his way back into the cockpit.

Some would look at the Sacramento Kings roster and shake their head. There is young talent and two players worthy of All-Star consideration. But the pieces have been better than the whole for nearly a decade. That is where Karl comes in.

His latest experiment is paying dividends. Rudy Gay is a basketball player. Not a wing or a combo forward. He is a 6-foot-8 super athlete with a 7-foot-3 wingspan and a silky smooth jumper. He can shoot, defend, rebound, pass the ball and block shots and for the last three games, he’s started alongside DeMarcus Cousins at the power forward position.

“I think it fits how I want to coach,” Karl told Cowbell Kingdom. “I want more speed. I want more spacing. I want more pace. All of those things get better when you’re playing your best athlete at four.”

While Gay has the talent of a superstar, he also has a bit of blue collar in him. He rarely misses games and when Karl sent him out to guard a 260-pound Nene over the weekend, Gay didn’t shy away from the task.

“He’s committed himself for a 30-game stretch to learn and commit to a new system and he’s done it,” Karl told the media earlier this week. “His offense has flowed, it’s got some efficiency to it. I think we’re asking him to expand his game a little bit, which I think is always challenging to a very talented player.”

Sacramento needs more talent on their roster, that much is obvious. But power forward has long been a position of need. With the ever changing NBA game, big men are being asked to do more. If Gay can stick at the position, he certainly answers a tremendous question for the Kings this offseason.

They still need depth in the backcourt, a three-and-D wing and shot blocker in the middle, but a front line of Gay, Cousins and whoever, is pretty solid.

“I would say yes,” Karl told Cowbell Kingdom as to whether Gay could start long term at the four. “You’re basically talking about 12 to 15 minutes where you are guaranteed that we are going to go that way. He might play 35 minutes a night and play 10 minutes at the four. The game’s going to dictate it.”

“I definitely think it’s sustainable,” Karl added.

There will be nights when Karl goes big. He still has Jason Thompson, Reggie Evans and Carl Landry to turn to, but if an uptempo style is what Karl wants, Gay may be the best option moving forward.

Gay is excelling under Karl. Through 17 games, he is averaging 23.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from behind the arc. You would like to see a bigger rebound number from your starting four, but Cousins is one of the most dominating rebounders in the game, so he can pick up the slack.

Karl will continue to make adjustments, but the small sample size of three games is telling him that Gay at the four makes the Kings better. He has the size and athleticism to play with almost anyone at the position. The question then becomes, can the Kings find a long-term fix at the three?

This isn’t another Shaquille O’Neal PR stunt (when was the last time we saw that guy?). Divac is in Sacramento with a shiny new VP title, and his intention is to fix what ails a Kings franchise that has clearly lost its way once again.

It’s no secret that the Kings are still searching for something. It’s been a long search and the end is nowhere in sight, but that hasn’t slowed the process. Seven coaches in seven years. Countless players. Ownership changes. Management changes. And now this – another mouth to feed in an overpopulated front office.

Repeating myself for emphasis here, but Vlade Divac is in Sacramento to work, not kiss babies, high-five fans or sit courtside next to Ranadivé before flying out on the next chartered jet. That is the message we are receiving from behind the scenes and that can only mean one thing – more changes are coming.

“I’m here and we’ll see,” a cryptic Divac said when asked about where he fits in the quagmire of front office personalities in Sacramento. “I can’t say anything right now, but I talked to Vivek last year, I talked (to him) six months ago, I talked (to him) three months ago and it was all about basketball and his vision and I’m so excited.”

It appears the Kings ownership group at large is ready to hit the reset button. They have seen what the current front office group has brought to the table for almost two years. 51 wins over two seasons is nothing to hang your hat on and neither is the embarrassment of the last three months.

Somewhere along the way, the Kings jumped script. They stopped listening to their public relations staff and started freelancing. They overestimated their pull in the locker room and underestimated the chemistry and culture built by Michael Malone. The results have been disastrous.

Even when they have had an opportunity to show some semblance of solidarity, they pass. Pete D’Alessandro was the lone representative from the Kings at Karl’s introductory press conference and no one has stepped to the forefront to tell us what the Divac hiring means.

For a group that loves the camera, their absence speaks as loud as any words they have said in the past.

Maybe they have nothing to say, which would be shocking. Or maybe the fate of the front office is sealed and this is a death march.

There is hope that Divac can provide a voice of reason. That he can be the calming influence that he was in the Kings locker room during the golden years of Sacramento basketball. There is no doubt that he is charming and lovable and maybe more importantly, despite his European roots, he knows Sacramento.

Divac is someone the fans have deep affection for. He speaks directly to the diverse community that is Sacramento. He has no Golden State Warriors ties nor is he a publicity stunt that charges an appearance fee when he flies into the capital city.

This is an important issue that has repeatedly been ignored by the new Kings regime. Like the “Here We Rise” campaign of the Maloofs, the “Sacramento Proud” mantra has very little value when you can neither be proud of the product or the message that is being disseminated on the basketball side.

Divac on the other hand is Sacramento Proud. He instantly brings credibility to the franchise, despite his lack of experience in the front office.

Hopefully the 7-foot tall Serb can get a handle on the message coming from within. During the Geoff Petrie era, information was nearly impossible to come by. But over the last two seasons, the Kings seem hell-bent on getting famous for what they say and not what they do.

Kevin Love? The Kings are in the discussion. Deron Williams? All in! Strangely enough, the one trade no one saw coming has turned out to be the most successful one. No one had the Rudy Gay deal until it was done. It’s funny how there was no need for negotiation in the press on that transaction.

Ownership and management created a culture of chaos. Players are constantly looking over their shoulder and wondering what’s coming next. The same could be said about the coaching staff that not only found the door, but a lack of support while they were running the team.

The current climate in Sacramento is not conducive to winning or attracting free agent players. Nor is it a good way to represent a city that wants nothing more than to celebrate the team that gives them a voice on a national, if not global stage.

Maybe Divac is the man to call a huddle, wrap his long arms around the group and pull the group together.

Hopefully this is the moment when the Kings begin to right the ship. Mistakes have been made, but there is plenty of time recover. We are less than 18 months away from the opening of a new arena in downtown Sacramento. That arena comes with a 35-year lease. The Kings aren’t going anywhere.

Enough with the frenetic message and the Shaq-ramento gimmicks. It’s time to move forward with Kings basketball. Hopefully a face from the past is the way to do that.

]]>http://cowbellkingdom.com/sunday-musings-finding-sacramentoproud/feed/0No nights off for Kings under George Karlhttp://cowbellkingdom.com/no-nights-off-under-george-karl/
http://cowbellkingdom.com/no-nights-off-under-george-karl/#commentsSat, 21 Mar 2015 11:00:57 +0000http://cowbellkingdom.com/?p=37872The gauntlet was laid down on Wednesday by George Karl. It was a tongue and cheek statement that the veteran coach tossed to the media, because he likes to stir the pot a bit.

“I talked to him (DeMarcus Cousins) today and I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to be suicidal if you don’t play Friday,'” Karl said with a smile before the Kings faced the Clippers. “I’m putting pressure on him.”

Would he play or would he not? The question dragged on late into Friday and even took some twists and turns.

That is the way this season appears to playing out as the Kings stumble towards game 82. The injury report has become treacherous. No one knows from one minute to the next whether or not DeMarcus Cousins will play. His list of ailments is long. He’s a tough guy, and his style of play lends itself to abuse. But he is taking gametime decision to a new level.

“I have no idea,” coach George Karl said less than an hour and a half before Friday night’s game against the Hornets. “I heard maybe and then I heard no and then I heard maybe…it’s a maybe.”

Cousins began the day questionable, but after warming up, it appeared he was a go. That quickly shifted to gametime decision and then maybe became a no all within the span of 10 minutes.

We aren’t questioning the validity of Cousins’ injuries. We are not doctors. Nor do we know what it’s like to manage a 6-foot-11 frame over an 82-game NBA schedule. If he can’t go, you have to take Cousins at face value.

We aren’t sure if Karl is questioning Cousins either. We just know that he would prefer to have his best player in uniform.

The fact is with 14 games remaining, the Sacramento Kings have very little to play for. They are 23-45 and headed for the draft lottery for the ninth straight year. It’s been a rough season and a rough decade. Not many would fault the players if they took it easy down the stretch.

That is a new trend in the NBA. For a long time, playoff bound teams have rested players down the stretch, but over the last few seasons, lower level teams have turned on the tank. They are resting players intentionally with the hopes of grabbing a higher draft pick come June. They have turned to their young players to see what they have. A lot of teams have even waived veterans so they can play out their season elsewhere.

But that is not Karl. The Kings are a team in flux, for sure, but they are also a club in assessment mode. With Karl taking over the reigns of the team during the All-Star break, he has just 30 games to make career-altering decisions for some of these players. He wants to see each and every player in uniform on a nightly basis.

There are some real questions that need answering for this team. Who fits into offensive specialist Vance Walberg’s dribble drive motion offense? Who fits next to Cousins and Rudy Gay? Is Ray McCallum the answer at reserve point guard? Who is the long-term shooting guard, Ben McLemore or Nik Stauskas? Does Derrick Williams deserve another year to prove his worth? How about Omri Casspi?

There is also a window to institute an offensive and defensive philosophy to ease the transition into next season. This doesn’t appear to be some rift forming between Karl and Cousins. It’s a 30-game training camp and Karl wants all able-bodied hands on deck. Everyday is a new opportunity to get better and it’s not in Karl’s DNA to waste a moment.

“I haven’t read that book,” Karl said when asked about team’s like his former team, the Denver Nugget’s resting players despite being out of the playoff hunt. “I’m sorry. My book says, and I know a lot more about the body than probably my player and agents know about because I’ve study my body because of my cancers. And everything I read says physiologically, your body needs exercise everyday. Your immune system works better if you exercise everyday. Your brain stimulates itself and gets rid of stress if you exercise everyday.”

“Show me the book that says laying around and being lazy gets you better, I don’t see that book, I don’t know that book,” Karl added.

The Kings need a lot of work. They snapped a four-game losing streak on Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets, but have lost eight of their previous 10 games. For a lot of teams, coasting to the finish line is acceptable. But not when you are handed a chance to work with one of the game’s great coaches.

“When you’re an average team, the number one job is everyday you’re thinking about somehow someway (to) improve who you are as a basketball player,” Karl said. “Make your brain more active as a basketball player, improve a skill as a basketball player – that’s your job. You get paid millions of dollars to get better as a basketball player.”

Hopefully the players are listening. Injuries happen, but there will be no games off. No practices off. The season ends on April 15 and until then, the body and mind of every player on the roster belong to George Karl.

NBC Sports’ Aaron Bruski joins Cowbell Kingdom’s James Ham on this weeks podcast to talk all things Sacramento Kings. Topics include the addition of Vlade Divac, philosophical differences regarding injuries and what’s next for the Sacramento Kings.

The only thing that is certain in Sacramento is that more changes are coming. George Karl is the head coach going forward, but he will certainly make additions and subtractions to his staff. Pete D’Alessandro, Chris Mullin and Mike Bratz run the basketball side of the team, but Vlade Divac just entered stage left. Lastly, this group of players might win 30 games if they are lucky and that’s not acceptable moving forward.

As we move towards another offseason, it’s probably time to examine perhaps the biggest is question mark of all – is DeMarcus Cousins a long-term fit with the Kings?

It’s a complex issue that pundits around the league chime in on every couple of days. It’s an easy topic to discuss. Cousins is an easy target, as are the Sacramento Kings.

Coming off his first All-Star appearance and a gold medal run with Team USA, it’s hard to imagine Sacramento’s brass moving the 24-year-old star. But that doesn’t mean they won’t. The Kings didn’t put him on the block at the deadline, but a source tells Cowbell Kingdom that they didn’t stop teams from making offers.

The argument for keeping Cousins

Cousins is a force. Despite playing for five head coaches in five seasons in Sacramento, Cousins has developed into a bona fide NBA superstar. He is a top 10 player in the league and the argument could be made that he is closer to the top five.

In his fifth season in the NBA, Cousins is averaging 23.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.6 blocks in 33.9 minutes per game. These are stellar numbers across the board, and perhaps the scariest part is that he is only scratching the surface of his potential.

Cousins has already shown the ability to improve on the defensive end, but he has more to learn. His block numbers skyrocketed as he learned to improve his positioning and understanding of defensive rotations. And there is no question that the Kings are a better defensive unit when he is on the floor.

On the offensive end, Cousins can compete for a scoring title under Karl. There isn’t a big man in the league with the array of moves that Cousins possesses and he’s only getting better. His decision making has room for improvement, but once the Kings surround him with shooters, the sky’s the limit. Where Cousins can take a huge step is as a distributor. 3.2 assists per game is impressive, but once he masters the high post offense and improves on his recognition of the double-team, that number should take a huge jump.

You don’t trade a big man this talented unless you have to. Cousins hasn’t set the world on fire under Karl, but this is a learning process for both men. Once you build the right team around Cousins, he could compete for an MVP.

The argument for dealing Cousins

Cousins has seen too much. The Kings have seen too much. For a guy who needs stability around him, the Kings have pushed every wrong button possible. Two full-blown relocation attempts put a ton of stress on every player and swapping out coaches every five minutes was like poking the angry bear.

Sacramento finally found a guy who could reach Cousins in Michael Malone and they unceremoniously dismissed him during a December swoon. Karl is not a natural fit for the talented big man, but it’s hard to count out one of the game’s great coaches.

Cousins hasn’t been the same since Malone left. You can hope that some time off this summer will allow him to hit the reset button one more time, but his value is tremendous right now. He is one of the best big men in the league and there are plenty of teams around the league that would give up a ton for a player of his caliber.

Maybe he isn’t the right fit. Maybe the Kings have had enough of Cousins’ antics. Maybe a team comes to them with a deal they can’t pass up on.

If D’Alessandro and Karl want to rebuild the Kings in their own image, Cousins could find himself in a new location.

Why he stays

He stays because he is too good to trade. Secondly, he is about to become one of the best deals in basketball. Cousins is in the first year of a four-year, $62 million extension. He is scheduled to make $17 million during the 2016-17 season when the salary cap is set to jump to between $88-$92 million due to the new national television contract. If Cousins was on the open market, he would be eligible for a salary closer to $30 million.

The Kings have had a difficult time finding a star through trades, free agency and the draft. Pure talent alone, Cousins is in the top two or three players the Kings have had in their 30 years in Sacramento. He is the lone payoff for a decade of pathetic basketball and it’s tough to see a deal where the Kings get equal value.

Why he goes

There are three scenarios where Cousins is moved. He could leave because he asks to go and the Kings acquiesce. It’s possible that Karl and D’Alessandro come to the conclusion that it will never work out and the last possibility is that someone blows the Kings away with a deal and they can’t walk away from it.

Cousins could ask out this summer, but making the All-Star team probably helped Sacramento’s cause, at least for one more year. The Kings need to quickly surround him with the right players and let Karl work his magic. Sacramento has a few pieces that work, but they also have a stack of players that they need to find new homes for. The Kings need to show Cousins that they are able to build a team around him that can win more than 28 games.

You have to believe that a Hall of Fame caliber coach will figure out a way to use Cousins correctly, but it’s possible it’s just too late. The front office didn’t consult Cousins on the firing of Malone and they allowed his name to get dragged into the Karl sweepstakes. They know the clock is ticking and maybe they decide to move him while his value is at its highest.

Lastly, there are teams out there that would love to have Cousins, especially when his deal becomes a steal. Maybe one of those clubs makes an offer that involves an All-Star level player and a pick or two? Stranger things have happened

Conclusion

The easy answer is that the Kings will keep Cousins and build around him this summer. But the easy answer isn’t always the correct answer. There is enough evidence to make a case that this is wide open.

Sacramento is a season away from opening a new arena. Cousins is supposed to be the centerpiece to the team that opens that building. Rarely do you see a team move a 24-year-old franchise cornerstone big man with three years remaining on his deal, but nothing is off the table with this group.

]]>http://cowbellkingdom.com/sunday-musings-will-cousins-stay-or-go/feed/0Road Reaction Show: Kings blow big lead in Phillyhttp://cowbellkingdom.com/road-reaction-show-kings-blow-big-lead-in-philly/
http://cowbellkingdom.com/road-reaction-show-kings-blow-big-lead-in-philly/#commentsSat, 14 Mar 2015 02:48:31 +0000http://cowbellkingdom.com/?p=37692]]>The Sacramento Kings (22-42) had every opportunity to put away the 76ers (16-50) tonight in Philadelphia and didn’t. Sacramento squandered an 18-point third quarter lead and fell to 76ers by the final of 114-107.

DeMarcus Cousins put on a show, finishing with 39 points and 24 rebounds in 40 minutes of action. The All-Star center shot 12-for-24 from the field and 15-of-20 from the line, but it wasn’t enough to pick up the victory. Rudy Gay added 24 points and Derrick Williams chipped in 15 as the Kings dropped to 2-5 on their eight-game road trip.

Join James Hamand Rui Thomas for the Road Reaction Postgame Show on Google+ after the game. The show can be watched on the video player embedded below. You can also join the discussion of tonight’s game by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.

What to watch

1. Guarding the arc

The 76ers make the fewest field goals per game in the NBA, but they manage to compete with the 3-ball. They rank 10th in attempts and 12th in makes from behind the arc, which plays into one of the Kings’ biggest weaknesses. Not to forget, new 76ers point guard Isaiah Canaan hit 6-of-10 triples against the Kings as a member of the Rockets on November 26.

2. Battle for the ball

Philadelphia tops the league in steals per contest with 9.8, but they also lead the association in opponents’ steals. Sacramento is nearly as sloppy with the ball but struggles to force turnovers, averaging only 6.5 steals a match. Coach George Karl wants the Kings to take more chances intercepting passing lanes, which makes tonight a good time to start.

3. T-Rob time

Kings draft bust Thomas Robinson once again takes on his former club, now as a member of the 76ers. Robinson has played in all eight games since he was acquired off waivers, and is averaging 8.5 points and 8.4 rebounds (3.4 offensive) in 17.1 minutes off the bench. The Kansas product will be fired up to say the least.